


A Different Kind of Pain

by IllyasJames



Series: Curiosity takes a Guardian [6]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Arranged Marriage, Complicated Relationships, M/M, Magic Shop, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-13 22:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11769894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IllyasJames/pseuds/IllyasJames
Summary: With his Cousin showing up, Victor finds himself reminded of a time long ago. A time in which he was happy, a time in which he found his heart in the air of joy and anticipation. But also a time in which he felt the sting of a broken heart.





	A Different Kind of Pain

**Author's Note:**

> Day 222 of my 365FF Challenge
> 
> Back with the series, introducing a few new names here. This is the reason I took a bit more time on this story, and it's again a day late. It had to be done exactly right for the remainder stories to work out. Introducing some new names, They are Important!! Btw, this is the part where the hurting is going to start. :}
> 
> As always I sent you off to enjoy the work by reminding that [ my tumblr ](http://the-world-of-illyas-james.tumblr.com/) is always available if you feel the need to sent me an ask or start a conversation over messages.  
> Seriously. I love receiving them. And I do my best to always answer. :}
> 
> Small service announcement;  
> A more pressing issue, however, is Update Demands. I've gotten a couple of comments about this and, please, I am begging you, don't do the thing. I know you're excited; hell, I'm excited about seeing the next chapter/sequel too, I love the enthusiasm you guys have! However, I am also a person who suffers from anxiety and that makes it hard to write, especially when I feel like I'm being pressured. I will get blocked and there will be no updates if this happens. Not because I'm being mean, but I genuinely just don't handle it well.  
> So please respect me, and try your best to not come of as rude in your enthusiasm.  
> Thank you. :}

He throws the front door open and ushers Tasha into his house, Makkachin in close proximity. He would have introduced her to Makka the day before but she had to leave after only a cup of coffee promising to come back the next day. And with Yuuri and Phichit having to get supplies for some of their classes, he decided to invite Tasha to his place between noon and two so that he could take Makka for a walk himself. Tasha was pleased to see the dog, and by her behavior it was clear she was unable to see they were a Guardian pet. He's not certain why the dog doesn't show what they are, but Victor isn't going to spill the beans. 

Tasha looks around the place with an appreciative look on her face, like Victor she has a taste for the finer things in life. She is especially interested in the large mirror in the hallway. Giving it an appreciative nod. She then walks into the sitting room and drapes herself in Yura's favorite chair. Mostly because he can sit with his legs over one of the armrests. When Makka jumps on the coach and lies down in their favorite spot she wrinkles her nose for a moment. Making Victor feel off with her for the first time in forever. 

"You let the dog sleep on the couch. That can lead to irremovable stains. Should they not have like a doghouse in the garden or so?" She smiles. "I have no idea what is proper for dogs." Victor smiles. Well yeah, they weren't allowed pets growing up as it could lead to chaos and that was not permitted.

"Well some people do that, but those are guard dogs. Makka is a social pet, they even sleep in my bed at night." Tasha's mouth drops.

"And that boyfriend of yours is okay with it? Or does the dog sleep on the couch those nights he's over?" Victor blushes.

"Uhm, Well..." He brushes his hair from his face. "He hasn't slept over. Or to be more precise, we aren't at that part of the relationship." he bites his lip. "We haven't even properly kissed yet." The last thing he expected was for Tasha to burst out in laughter.

"Oh heavens. You have it bad if you are doing the whole proper getting to know you as a person first." The sudden worried look on her face makes her drop her voice. "He's not a non-magi right? You know that will never work." Victor shakes his head.

"Oh no. He's a magi. But he lives a mostly non-magi live. Wants to be a professional dancer one day. Seen two of his rehearsals over the summer when I went there to pick him up for dinner." Victor still feels his heart speed up remembering exactly how Yuuri moved in his rehearsal outfits. As they were as skimpy as that trainingsoutfit he wore the first time he picked up Makka. "He looks down to earth but when he lets go you can see the touch of Etherea in him." 

"So he is exactly the type of person you have always been dreaming of. I'm happy for you. Especially after... after it went so wrong for you." 

Tasha leans over and puts her hand on Victor's knee giving it a small squeeze. He can feel both the glow of her spell as the desire to comfort flow through him. Looking down at her hand he can't help but remember just how he lost a chance at love already once because apparently Destiny had not thought him worthy for it. 

~

His parents are yelling again. Victor looks at the ceiling in his room and wonders if he can regrow the roses he had on them. Not that his father will permit them for very long, the man is all for Victor to grow up. His mother though prefers the thought that he still has his innocence to him and wishes to keep him like that for longer. He wonders if they are fighting about his year in the non-magi world, after all he is going to be sixteen tomorrow and that would mean he's to be permitted to apply for it. He does hope they'll let him go, he's been reading up on the non-magi world and they do seem to have so many fun things he wants to try. 

When Mantis knocks his door and informs him the Master wishes to speak to him in the formal sit, Victor understands that what ever the subject was his parents fought about it was his father that won. His mother would have asked him to join her for tea in her hobby room. He walks behind the servant in silence, as a kid he had tried to talk to the man but he had learned very quickly the servant was under a spell to relay anything told to him to his father. And well, there were things that man did not need to know. Like Victor's interests being more inclined towards boys than towards girls. The man was much to interested in how things should look to really care if they would make Victor happy. And Victor just wanted to be happy. 

The Formal sit was exactly fitting to it's name. It was Formal, and you could sit there. Poorly the chairs were so formal one could imagine they were not really meant to sit in as they always left Victor hurting. Although it could be that it was because his father would always make him sit in there for at least an hour at times. He was surprised to find his mother sitting next to his father, she disliked this room even more than Victor did and he always believed he disliked it to no end. Plus she was crying, a sign that whatever was going to be said Victor would probably not like it. 

"Sit down boy, we do not have all day." His father's cold tone of voice sounded like Ice breaking, so Victor sits down at once. "I hate it when my hand gets forced, and I've been trying to prevent this for nearly four years now. Poorly as this is a direct order from my grandmother, your great-grandmother, who is the current Empress, there is nothing I can do about it." 

Now this sends a shiver down Victor's spine. His father usually doesn't speak about his connection with the Empress, Victor only found out about it as he when he was four had asked why he had the hair color he had as no other he knew had it. His father had snapped that his mother's feeble blood had triggered a call back to 'those' genes. His mother later when putting a cold towel on his cheek had explained what his father had meant. The Empress is not mentioned often in the Nikiforov home after that, only the few times she sends a summoning for them to come see her. His eyes drift to the small table between his parents, sure enough a formal letter resides there. 

"Look at me when i am speaking boy!" His father snaps at him like a whip. "If it had depended on me I would have sent you to the non-magi world for that year maybe even two as I still have my contacts there. This letter though is not to be ignored. So one day after your Birthday tomorrow you will be picked up and taken to the Palace, there your powers will be assessed and you will be written down in the marriage roster. Apparently the Empress believes you are ready for a wife. Although it is beyond me how she could get an idea like that, as you are a gleeful brat." With that he is dismissed, and he takes his leave. Running back to his room.

His birthday passes without much to the date, as most that is discussed is his impending marriage. It is beyond him, but his mother is convinced he'll be married of to an older person. And as sixteen is a decent age as any to get married, after all it is the age she was when she married his father, he has to deal with a whole new wardrobe being fitted on him. It is during this fitting something finally clicks in Victor's mind. His mother's love for his longer hair, her approval when he admitted to also like boys, the indulgence in his more whimsical characteristics, her always calling him Viteska. Where his father fails to see in him a strong man he could proudly call his son, his mother sees no man in him at all. This leads to him making a plan to go against what is to be expected and for the first time he is not sharing it with his mother over tea and needlework. 

The next day he is picked up to be assessed and he couldn't be happier to be out of the house. He had send a wish up to Destiny that night and he had felt her blessing in his mind when he woke that morning. Surely he would be treated well today, and if he succeeded he would be of to better places still. He arrived at the Palace at the same time as a girl his age sneaks out the door. He is surprised to see hair like his till he recognizes the face beneath it.

"Tasha! What ever are you doing here. I would think you would be driving your servants mad in your need to get everything ordered for your birthday next month." Victor makes some of the guards around look startled for his lack of decorum when he runs up to his younger cousin. "It is good to see you though." 

Tasha looks at his with a smile. "Silly, I'm here to be put on the roster. I begged daddy to do so, after all he runs the department that oversees it all. But I don't think he'll do it, he is way to picky about who I can see. I swear the man believes he will be the one to judge my future husband." She nuzzles into Victor's shoulder being only an inch shorter. "I did hear you were up to be assessed so I came after all. You can use all the support you need, being one of the more powerful magi about. We can't have them set you up with some feeble excuse for a third removed cousin, right?" She looks up smiling. "Or worse with one of the Cait Sidhe. I always pegged you more of a dog person to be honest." Both cousins laugh at that.

Victor is amazed how fast assessment goes. As it seems the people involved had a very good track of all his magic accomplishments. All they asked was for him to release his bind for a moment, they did look quite frizzled after that. he is wished well and they state they have no doubt there is to be found a good match for him, he thanks them profoundly before leaving the room and running upstairs to tell Tasha. But when he enters the room he finds her crying. Seems her father had put his foot down, she was not to be put on the roster unless she spends at least a year in the non-magi realm. He spends the remainder of the afternoon comforting her, telling her he was secretly hoping that he was going to be paired with a man, just to spite his father. Tasha breaks in her first smile trying to imagine the faces that man would pull at such a turn of events. 

When dinner rolls around victor is given two letters. One is the response on a previous writing of his he had hoped for and the other was for him to meet at a bonding meeting right after dinner. Which means that someplace in the palace at that very moment was the one meant for him, a shiver goes down his spine that isn't missed by Tasha. She looks at the letters, frowning a little at the first but giving him a large joyes smile at the latter. 

"Oh Victor, how lucky. I've seen so many interesting people arrive today. So many strong man and woman, and even a set of very interesting siblings." She blushes. "Seems I might not be rostered I do have a taste." Victor blushes at her insinuation. "I wish daddy wasn't so adamant, but then the one I fancy is a bit younger so they will probably be on the roster still when i get back from that hellish year." He puts his hand on her knee and squeezes, promising her a dance at that nights celebration. 

The bonding meeting was something he had not expected. he had honestly thought he would be properly introduced to his betrothed, instead he was blindfolded and led into a room. All he knew was that they were also going to be led into the room at one point and that there was something in the room that would make their energy respond to one another. He was still wondering how that would go when all of his senses start buzzing. He hears a soft gasp coming from the direction of the door, and he knows that his intended is a bit younger than him, quite strong, and with a bubbly personality. There are some things there he can't place but he knows he wants to find out. He walks over to where he heard the gasp and finds a person standing against the door as if they are scared of him. knowing he is not permitted to speak, he does the next best thing he can think of to calm them down. When he does, it feels like the energy in the room explodes. 

Waking up in his bed the next morning with Tasha sitting in a chair next to him still dressed in her dancing dress makes Victor wonder what happened. Tasha waking up from his stirring, explains that apparently he and his intended had formed quite a strong bond together. Which Tasha was happy about, as she had seen the girl and it was a darling one, and Victor deserved a good marriage. She did ask him what his meeting with the Empress that afternoon was going to be about, so he told her his plans. She wished him well. He told her he'd dance with her that night but she tells him her dad found out she had sneaked off to see his meeting and well, she was to go home that afternoon. he promised to write her many letters to let her know if his plan would work. 

That afternoon he met with the Empress for the second time in his life. The first time he had been amazed at her beauty but now his mind was still filled with his betrothed's energy and was far less subdued. Something she seemed to appreciate.

"So your request is not one I get very often from one listed on the roster. Then again you have always been a highly unpredictable child, I see no reason for you to stop being so in your adulthood. You do know why you were listed on the roster do you." She opens her large obsidian eyes and stares him down a bit, Victor chuckles. 

"Of Course. My mother pleaded with you and the assessment office to find me a husband and be the bride she always wanted, so that she could spite my father by thwarting his plan in letting me go to the non-magi realm and learn from his contacts so that I can take over from him one day." he leans back. "So in the end my plan is to thwart them both and do as I please. Be neither a bride nor an heir." 

The Empress nods her approval, calls for her scribe, which turns out to be a most endearing woman called Hiroko, and under the pleasure of tea she dictates some choice letters to be sent to Victor's parents that will surely make both of them decide never to utter an other word with him ever again. He starts the planning for his magi lessons early the next day when he is brought to the gates of the University. And when summer comes he takes a year of to travel the non-magi world with his cousin. But when she returns after that year he sends in a letter that he will be extending his stay for a bit. Not returning to complete his studies till he's already nineteen, and amazing all his teachers by rounding up his classes in less time than they normally would demand for it. Graduating only one year older than his fellow graduates. 

His correspondence with Tasha being at some points his only contact with family, and somehow it always leads to him talking about the hope he will live up to what his betrothed deserves. After all she should be of marriageable age already but no request to make it formal was sent to him yet. At one point for his twenty first birthday Tasha had sent him a large mirror and they since had used it to communicate through, it was during one of those talks, just weeks before his twenty second birthday, that she promised to check up on his intended. After all she had started to work for her father and had much easier access to the roster then when she was a child.

So when she drops by his place the day before his birthday wearing a solemn look on her face he can feel his heart drop. he knows her to well to know she is not bearing good news. She takes his hand and leads him to the soft twin-seat he has in his study. He gets nervous when she goes into the kitchen and makes the tea she serves him instead of simply conjuring it up. 

"Oh Vitya," her voice sounds dreaded, "you deserve so much better. So much love." her lip quiver. "I don't even know where to start. So I'll treat it as a bandage and go for it as fast as I can. You knew your betrothed was younger, well it seems that as you had gotten permission, they too requested and were granted time among the non-magi." For a moment Victor fears to hear that they had been found out and killed as had happened in the past. "They are not coming back. They informed the agency that they found their true love and wish to remain with them as a non-magi themselves. You have yet been informed as the request had just came in, but I know it was already checked upon and will be approved." She places her hand on his knee and gives it a small squeeze. 

Victor feels his heart break in his chest and he lets out a soft moan filled with pain. Tasha pulls him to her chest at once. "I'm sorry to bring you this news. But I thought it was better you heard it from me than by some informal letter that they are bound to send you." She rubs his back for well over an hour, letting him cry out all the hopes he had for the future. 

That evening after Tasha left, as he assured her he was going to be fine. Yes magi could die of a broken heart but his was merely scarred not broken, he would live. He looked at himself in the mirror on his vanity, his long hair mocking him. Making him look soft and nice. His eye falls on the scissor he had used that morning to cut off the dead ends. Well they do say all of your hair is dead, and when he finally stops to catch his breath only a larger fringe over his left eye is left. Why emulate Etherea when it is clear Destiny favors him nothing. 

It is when he meets with a fellow graduate that he starts to form a plan. Georgi complains that he is linked to a child of barely fourteen, and as cute as she is, he is certain that one day she'll resent him being so much older and taking away her chances from her. Sure the man can be a bit dramatic, especially as he complains he had wanted to be rostered with some girl Victor had never liked. But it gives Victor an Idea and he immediately tells him. Georgi is intrigued but doubt even Victor with all his contacts could pull of something like that. 

Well less than two years later they stand in a building ready to be turned into a curiosity shop able to be visited by magi and non-magi alike. And as Victor got all the request served with his great grandmothers seal, the newly turned sixteen year old Milla can have her time in the non-magi world working with them. Sure his friend Chris was angry that he had chosen a location in America, but as the dart had landed there, he decided not to press to long into it. And the man loved to visit when he could.

~

"So my dear cousin. Where are you with your thoughts as you seem miles away." Tasha's voice pulls him back to the present, where her hand is still on his knee. He looks up with a dazzling smile.

"I was thinking that I should invite Chris over. He and Masumi had so much planned this summer I have not seen more of him than through communication. It would be good to drag him around town again." 

Both cousins laugh as Tasha was there when he had met Chris, and she knew that his friendship with the half-demon had been one of the reasons his return to Magi had gotten postponed several times. After that they move to more pleasurable topics and are still at it when the front door gets tossed open and Yuri barges in gives them a nasty look and storms up to his room. Seems it is one of those days again.

"Oh my. What ever has gotten into the little kitten?" Tasha pouts as she is not used to be discarded like that, Victor just shrugs his shoulders.

"Please do not call him that. he is fourteen and is at that stage he can either like something or hold a grudge so deep it could swallow the universe. And I assume he was annoyed by somebody at work. Probably me as I had said I would return and we talked so long I forgot. So if you can, I must see if i can calm him down or dinner is going to be hell." 

He gives her an apologetic smile which she gracefully accepts. they say there good byes and Victor goes upstairs planning to calm down the angry boy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this
> 
> All comments are greatly appreciated, even one as little as a smiley. :}


End file.
